Feeding device for ironing machines



Jan. 25, 1966 H. BOAM ETAL 3,231,267

FEEDING DEVICE FOR IRONING MACHINES Filed Dec. 19, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 lnvegifi W? Jan. 25, 1966 H. BOAM ETAL FEEDING DEVICE FOR IRONING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 19, 1965 [nvenlmS- WWW United States Patent 3,231,267 FEEDING DEVICE FOR IRONING MACHINES Harry Beam and Edward John Appleton, Nottingham, England, assignors to Manlove Alliott & Company Limited, Nottingham, England, a British company Filed Dec. 19, 1963, Ser. No. 331,695 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Dec. 20, 1962, 48,120/62 11 Claims. (Cl. 271-69) The present invention relates to feeding devices for feeding articles of laundry flatwork, such as sheets, to laundry ironing machines.

Articles being laundered arenormally partially dried, after washing, in a centrifugal hydro extractor and drying tumbler and then shaken out and prepared by operatives for entry to the ironing machine. In the case of large pieces of work such as sheets the ironing machine is capable of working at a considerably higher rate than that at. which the work can be conveniently handled by the operatives without special aid. It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide such aid.

According. to the present invention, there is provided a laundry flatwork feeding device, for an ironing machine, comprising a reciprocating carrier that travels toward and away frorn at least one loading station where an edge of a sheet or other flatwork article can be clipped to the carrier, with release means to release the sheet from the carrier automatically as the carrier approaches the opposite limit of its travel whereby the released sheet is deposited on conveyor means below the carrier that feeds it in a direction transverse to the direction of the carrier travel.

Preferably, the carrier travels to and fro between two loading stations at either of which a sheet can be clipped tothe carrier, there being release meansoperative to release she ets in both directions of carrier travel.

One known type of fourroller ironing machine has the capacity to iron at least 1,200 sheets per hour. The provision of a twostation feeding device according to the invention enables two operatives to keep such a machine supplied at the rate of one sheet every three seconds, while allowing each operative double that time, i.e. six seconds, in which to manipulate her sheet.

In the preferred arrangement, there are associated with the conveyor, or ,with a. further conveyor to which it delivers, automatically retractable brushes to straighten and brush out the sheets as they are fed by the conveyor to the entry of the ironing machine.

,An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE lis a block diagram showing the disposition in plan of a laundry ironing machine and a feeding device according to the invention,

, FIGURE 2 is a view in side elevation of the feeding device, looking in the direction of the arrow 2 of FIG- URE 1, and

FIGURE 3 is a view on the line 33 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 1 shows how the laundry flatwork feeding device is placed at the entry side 11 of a laundry ironing machine 12, the work being fed in the direction of the arrows 13 from the feeding device into the ironer. The feeder may be placed so as to feed the work directly into the ironer, or alternatively the work can be transferred across the gap from the feeder to the ironer by operatives. The feeder has two loading stations A, B between which a carrier reciprocates in the direction of the arrows 14. Successive flatwork pieces such as sheets are pulled by the carrier across the feeder 10 from stations A and B alterantely, there being a woman operative at each station to present a sheet to the carrier each ice time it arrives at that station. As the carrier, pulling a sheet, moves toward the end of its travel in either direction it is caused to release the sheet it is pulling which then drops on to one or more conveyor rollers below (two rollers in the example illustrated in FIGURES 2 and 3) that feed the sheet away in the direction of the arrow 13. Each sheet so dropped is moved away from below the path of the carrier before the next sheet is dropped, and so a succession of sheets, taken alternately from loading stations A and B, is fed to the ironer. The portion 15 of the feeder 10 comprises a conveyor with which are associated brushes for smoothing out the sheets travelling theron.

Referring now to FIGURES 2 and 3, the carrier 16 for pulling the sheets across the feeder 10 runs transversely of the feeder framework 17 on somewhat elevated guide rails 18. The carrier travels on four side wheels 19 and is driven by endless belts or chains 20 that are trained around pulleys or sprockets 21 mounted on a shaft 22. This shaft in turn is coupled bya further belt or chain drive 23 to a reversing electric motor 24 controlled by limit switches associated with the carrier.

On the carrier 16 and disposed between the guide rails 18 and side wheels 19, are two oppositely-facing pairs of clips 25, 26. Each clip has depending jaws that are spring-urged to close on one another and one of the jaws 27 is fixed while the other jaw 23 is longer and pivotally mounted to allow the clip to be opened. One or other of the pairs of clips is briefly opened automatically on each occasion that the carrier approaches an end of its travel. Thus considering FIGURE 3, the clips 25 are opened as the carrier nears the left hand end of the guide rails 18, and the clips 26 are opened as the carrier approaches the right hand end. This causes the clips to release sheet-s inserted in them by the operatives standing at the loading stations A and B at opposite ends of the carrier travel. The right hand operative at station A places in the pair of clips 25 that part of her sheet which 'will be the front end portion of the left hand margin (when looking toward the approaching sheet from the ironer) as the sheet travels toward the ironer 12 in the direction of the arrows 13 (FIGURE 1). Similarly, the left hand operative at station B places in the pair of clips 26 that part of her sheet which will be the front end por tion of the right hand margin. Sheets are thus drawn across the feeder alternately from the two loading stations A and B into the feed path along which they will travel to the ironer.

The automatic opening of the clips is brought about by hinged brackets 29, 30 that engage upstanding tails 31, 32 on the pivoted jaws 28 of the clips 25, 26. The brackets 29 cooperate with the tails 31 of clips 25, remaining firm when the carrier is moving from right to left so as to push back the tails and open the clips 25 but swinging back freely about their hinges so that these clips are not opened when the carrier is moving from left to right. Similarly the brackets 30 cooperate with the tails 32 to open the clips 26 when the carrier is moving from left to right but not when are carrier is moving from right to left.

As each sheet is pulled across the feeder and released it drapes over conveyor rollers 33 and down a rear end plate 34. The plate 34 is part of an air-blown straightening device, whereby the sheet is drawn out straight and folds and creases are removed. The two rollers 33 are mounted with their axes parallel to the direction of travel of the carrier 16 and they are rotated by a motor 35, as indicated by arrows 36, so as to feed the straightened sheet forward in the direction of the arrows 13 of FIGURE 1. The sheet descends progressively front end first over a deflector plate 37 and a roller 38 on to an inclined band conveyor 39. The band conveyor is stretched between rollers 40 and 41, the roller 41 being driven by a motor 42. The sheet is fed up the inclined conveyor to the delivery end thereof for presentation to the ironing machine.

As the sheet travels up the conveyor 39 it is subjected to a final smoothing preparation by brushes acting on both surfaces of it. It is possible for the underneath to be brushed as well as the top surface because the endless band of the conveyor is made up of tapes or ribands spaced at intervals across the conveyor width with substantial gaps between the tapes. The sheet first passes between a pair of flat brushes 43, 44, then through the nip of a pair of rollers 45, 46, and finally between a pair of rotary brushes 47, 48, the rotary brushes being driven, in the direction indicated by the arrows 49, by a motor 50.

Since the brushes are only effective when the sheet is appropriately gripped, and will cause rucking or bodily movement of the sheet if operative when the sheet is not properly held or if they interfere with the passage of the front end of the sheet, each brush is retractable. .The retraction is performed by solenoid gear 51, 52, 53, 54 under the control of three photoelectric devices 55, 56, 57. The photoelectric devices sense the passage of each sheet on th conveyor and are placed one (55) between the fiat brushes 43, 44 and the nip rollers 45, 46, a second (56) to sense the actual passage of the sheet through the nip between the rollers 45, 46 and the third (57) beyond the rotary brushes 47, 48. Thus it can be ensured that the flat brushes 43, 44 do not move in on a sheet until its front end is through the roller nip, that the rotary brushes do not move in until the front end of the sheet is beyond them, and that the brushes are retracted after the rear end of the sheet has passed the flat brushes but before it has reached the roller nip.

Various modifications of the arrangement described are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus while a double-ended feeder with two loading stations has been described and is preferred there is some advantage over previous techniques even in the employment of a single loading station. And there are a number of ways in which the brushes to performv the final smoothing can be disposed. In particular the fiat nonrotary brushes can be replaced by :a further pair of rotary brushes rotating in the opposite direction to the forward rotary brushes so that the two pairs of brushes brush out the sheet in opposite directions.

We claim:

1. A laundry flatwork feeding device, for an ironing machine, comprising a frame, first conveyor means and drive means therefor mounted on the frame to carry flatwork articles in a first direction toward an ironing machine, cross guide means on the frame above said first conveyor means, a carrier mounted for travel horizontally to and from on said cross guide means in a second direction at right angles to said first direction, clip means on said carrier to receive an edge of a flatwork article for drawing of said article by the carrier across said first conveyor means from a loading station at one end of said cross guide means, release means acting on said clip means as the carrier approaches the opposite end of said cross guide means whereby the flatwork article is dropped on to said first conveyor means after having been pulled thereacross, additional frame members with second conveyor means mounted thereon in a position to receive each flatwork article from said first conveyor means and carry it on in said first direction toward the ironing machine, and retractable brushes mounted on said additional frame means and brushing out the flatwork articles as they travel on said second conveyor means.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein there are two sets of brushes spaced in the direction of travel of a flatwork article and tending to brush in opposite directions away from one another.

3. A device according to claim 2, wherein the brushes of at least one set are rotary brushes.

4. A device according to claim 3, wherein the brushes of the downstream set are rotary and those of the upstream set are flat.

5. A device according to claim 4, wherein a pair of nip rollers are disposed between the two sets of brushes.

6. A device according to claim 5, wherein each set of brushes comprises brushes acting on opposite sides of a flatwork article, the second conveyor means having an endless band consisting of spaced tapes allowing access for the brushes to the undersurface of the article between the tapes.

7. A device according to claim 1, wherein the brushes are automatically retracted and applied to the work under the control of means, such as photoelectric devices, sensing the passing of the articles.

8. A device according to claim 1, wherein the first conveyor means beneath the carrier comprises at least one roller which feeds the flatwork article on to the lower end of said second conveyor means that is inclined upwardly toward its delivery end.

9. A laundry flatwork feeding device, for animning machine, comprising a frame, conveyor means and drive means therefor mounted on the frame to carry flatwork articles in a first direction toward an ironing machine, cross guide means on the frame above said conveyor means, a carrier mounted for travel horizontaly to and fro on said cross guide means in a second direction at right angles to said first direction, a first clip on one end of the carrier and a second clip on the other end each to receive an edge of a flatwork article for drawing of said article by the carrier across said conveyor means from a loading station, there being a first loading station at a first end of said cross guide means for the presentation of articles into said first clip and a second loading station at the second end of said cross guide means for the presentation of articles into said second clip, first auto matic clip release means acting on said first clip as the carrier app-roaches said second end of said cross guide means whereby a flatwork article presented into said first clip at said first loading station is dropped on to said conveyor means, and second automatic clip release means acting on said second clip as the carrier approaches said first end of said cross guide means whereby a flatwork article presented into said second clip at said second loading station is likewise dropped in its turn on to said conveyor means.

10. A device according to claim 9, wherein the clips are automatically opened by engagement with clip-opening members on the fixed frame of the device, different clipopening members being provided for the two directions of travel and each being effective on its respective clip during travel of the carrier in one direction only.

11. A device according to claim 9, wherein when each flatwork article is released it drapes over the conveyor means below and also over an air-blown straightening device.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,950,880 3/1934 Duncan 271--76 X 2,220,102 11/1940 Hamilton 38143 2,506,550 5/1950 Morrison.

2,878,602 3/1959 Broad 38143 3,136,081 6/1964 Fredholm 38-143 M. HENSON WOOD, 1a., Primary Examiner.

ROBERT B. REEVES, Examiner. 

1. A LAUNDRY FLATWORK DEVICE, FOR AN IRONING MACHINE, COMPRISING A FRAME, FIRST CONVEYOR MEANS AND DRIVE MEANS THEREFOR MOUNTED ON THE FRAME TO CARRY FLATWORK ARTICLES IN A FIRST DIRECTION TOWARD AN IRONING MACHINE, CROSS GUIDEMEANS ON THE FRAME ABOVE SAID FIRST CONVEYOR MEANS, A CARRIER MOUNTED FOR TRAVELHORIZONTALLY TO AND FROM ON SAID CROSS GUIDE MEANS IN A SECOND DIRECTION AT RIGHT ANGLES TO SAID FIRST DIRECTON, CLIP MEANS ON SAID CARRIER TO RECEIVED AN EDGE OF A FLATWORK ARTICLE FOR DRAWING OF SAID ARTICLE BY THE CARRIER ACROSS SAID FIRST CONVEYOR MEANS FROM A LOADING STATION AT ONE END OF SAID CROSS GUIDE MEANS, RELEASE MEANS ACTING ON SAID CLIP MEANS AS THE CARRIER APPROACHES THE OPPOSITE END OF SAID CROSS GUIDE MEANS WHEREBY THE FLATWORK ARTICLE IS DROPPED ON TO SAID FIRST CONVEYOR MEANS AFTER HAVING BEEN PULLED THEREACROSS, ADDITIONAL FRAME MEMBERS WITH SECOND CONVEYOR MEANS MOUNTED THEREON IN A POSITION TO RECEIVE EACH FLATWORK ARTICLE FROM SAID FIRST CONVEYOR MEANS AND CARRY IT ON IN SAID FIRST DIRECTION TOWARD THE IRONING MACHINE, AND RETRACTABLE BRUSHES MOUNTED ON SAID ADDITIONAL FRAME MEANS AND BRUSHING OUT THE FLATWORK ARTICLES AS THEY TRAVEL ON SAID SECOND CONVEYOR MEANS. 